European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 8, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Pago 10 columns the stars and stripes saturday december 8,1990 r a it a or err fat 4/v. Is a i Bijj try 4�lljilw jl4.lb<l"ww�l a -7s a a tvo. 5 /i5rjwl v Ftp As amp it William Safire trying to obtain a bombs a will they be with us a asked. Sen. Joseph Biden about our persian Gulf allies at the Senate foreign relations committee hearing wednesday. He was irritated at the Well hold your coat attitude of the soviet Union and others but incensed at the a echoes of 25 years ago in the position taken by sen. Jesse Helms. That official Media heavy had said he considered open hearings a mistake and said he would submit written questions in private a Quot one of them which is extremely sensitive a and then wrongheaded by stalked off to fiddle with Senate ethics. What was that by play All about what impelled Helms to hint at. The Security riskiness of hearings and Biden to accuse Helms of mccarthyism if my suspicion is Correct both of these quite different senators were coming at the ame subject in characteristically divergent ways they were concerned about the trustworthiness of the nations coalesced with us against Saddam Hussein. Helms May or May not have been alluding to a belief being bruised about Tor the past 10 Days by a minority of world Spoo Kery that saudi Arabia in understandable panic just after the invasion of Kuwait tried to obtain nuclear warheads from China for its missiles. 1 hesitated to write about this speculation because i cannot confirm it and did not want to discredit the solid information from other sources printed in this space since publicly confirmed about the iraqi attempt to acquire an atomic device soon and weaponry within a few a. .7. A. A a a a a a but the concern is half out of the bag lets examine the possibility As an exercise in intelligence evaluation this we know three years ago China secretly sold Css-2 a East wind missiles with a Range of 2,200 Miles to saudi Arabia. The delivery was made via Islamabad Pakistan to three bases in the a empty Quarter a Between Riyadh and Jidida. 7., about 500 chinese technicians accompanied the missiles suggesting that the missiles cannot be fired without Beijing s of. We Learned of this Deal a year later in China the same Type of missile carries nuclear War Heads Why do the saudis need a missile of that Range accuracy and huge Cost if the payload is Only a conventional bomb 7&Quot .7 a. �?�7 comes the invasion of Kuwait. The saudi King looks catastrophe to his kingdom in the face. He reverses policy by welcoming a huge Force of americans and also the spook minority thinks asks the chinese with whom he has just established diplomatic and economic relations for the rest of the order a nuclear tips on the missiles in place a a a ��77 -7 or Quot .7 7 the Only evidence that the worriers Point to is this in the month after the August invasion of Kuwait 500 More chinese technicians arrived at the three bases where 12 of the 36 missiles arc operational. And a second link has been added to encrypted communication from the desert bases to which the . Is. Denied Access. No big Deal says the majority an expanded bureaucracy could be calling Home More often overriding consideration a proud China would hardly jeopardize its world standing for a bundle of saudi Money or double Cross us in secret a second time. In a inclined to discount the Story and go with the majority because the israelis with the most at risk grumble about the missiles but do not sound an alarm about supposed attempts to buy nuclear warheads. Although the request is unverifiable arid the shipment highly unlikely the expressed concern of a portion of the once fooled intelligence Community is a fact. With some vividness it illustrates the degree of distrust missile that permeates relations among a the allies. That distrust is Well placed. The. Alliance is a be Fellowship of temporarily parallel interests. To Biden a pertinent question a who will be with us a Secretary of state James a. Baker Iii replied a there might or might not be soft Trust the British we three quarters Trust the turks whom iraqis fear most we half Trust the French who want to Cut a Deal and the egyptians and saudis who would serve in Kuwait but not Iraq we Quarter Trust the chinese and soviets and we wholly distrust the terrorist syrians who would turn on us in a Flash. Outside the fragile coalition we Trust the israelis who can be counted on in the crunch. Who will be with us lets Hope the vote avoiding Congress does not turn out to be the softest spot of All James Kilpatric Kas Gulf policy Sam Nunn May know More about National defense than any other member of the Senate but in urging an open ended policy of a patience a tie contributes Little to the National debate. As a policy for the persian Gulf patience has its Virtues. Patience also has its limits. 1 _ i As chairman of the armed services committee the Georgia Democrat has been Able to put on quite a show in the past few Days. One after another his wit Nesses have made the same ease a let us give sanctions several years if need be to do their work Nunn summoned two former chairmen of the joint chiefs of staff to support a waiting game. James r. Schlesinger a former Secretary of defense testified to the same effect. Let us Pray Over this policy. Saddam Hussein dictator of Iraq pulled off his Blitzkrieg Conquest of Kuwait on aug. 2. The United nations at once voted for economic sanctions. By aug. 10, virtually the whole world had fallen in line. We Are now Well into december under the latest . Resolution no military action May he taken until Jan. 15 at the earliest. One is inclined to ask with Isaiah lord How Long Nunns argue Ghent has the sound of Rea son a if we have a War a he says a a we re never going to know whether the sane tons would have True enough but if we wait for the sanctions to work we May wait forever. Time is not on the Side of the Allied coalition. Time is on the Side of Saddam Hussein. This is True or so it seems to me for reasons that have More to do with human nature than with military strategy. What has been the worlds recent experience with economic sanctions May we recall the example of what used to be Rhodesia when its government stubbornly refused to yield to Black Rule everyone ganged up behind sanctions against Rhodesia. A a a a year or so later i happened to be in what used to be Salisbury. The sanctions had not worked. Every conceivable kind of consumer goods had found its Way around the embargo. The government was having no serious problem in keeping its planes flying and its troops supplied. Call it greed or Call it opportunism or Call it what you will it was business As usual in Rhodesia. At the moment South Africa is under All kinds of sanctions. Have these impositions done their work have the restrictions brought South Africa to its Knees the United states bars Commerce with Cuba. Does anyone seriously believe that . Goods have become unattainable in Havana the lamp of experience should guide our Steps. Viewed in that Light Why should we believe that sanctions will work against Iraq a other considerations Challenge the Wisdom of waiting for a few years the International coalition formed against Saddam Hussein looks Fine on paper but paper fades. So will this fragile coalition begin to lose its forceful image. No exhortations will sustain the morale of troops bogged Down month after tedious month in an inhospitable desert. Here at Home political support is bound to dwindle. The american people have Little patience with patience. A a i done to believe in taking needless risks a Nunn says. No one can argue with that proposition. But if a risk is simply a risk and not a needless risk we have a different calculus. The senator adds gratuitously a i believe any president has to think about whether there Are other alternatives before he risks a Large number of american a. Merciful heaven does Nunn really suppose that. President Bush has not thought about the alternatives Bush knows War. He has been there. He is not an impetuous Man Given to impulsive and ill considered actions. The terrible Fate Ful responsibility of sending Young men to die weighs upon him night and Day but this situation cannot be permitted to Drift along indefinitely. The credibility of the United nations never very High is at stake. Of greater importance the credibility of the United states is at stake. Bush repeatedly has called upon Saddam to withdraw a immediately and unconditionally from Kuwait. At some Point such Calls cease to be impressive and become ludicrous instead. The key consideration May be stated to three words now or later. If Saddam a naked aggression is not nullified a if the dictator is not disarmed now if our troops Are Anticlimactic ally brought Home a nothing will have been gained and much will have been lost. Yes of course let us be patient. But when patience wears unbearably thin we must strike. A c Universal press Syndicate
